Category: Intelligence Analysis

Rovin, Jeff (2005) created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. Tom Clancy’s Op-center. War of Eagles. New York: Berkley Books

LCCN: 2005577014

PS3553.L245 T669 2005

Summary

When a mysterious cabal within the U.S. State Department causes tensions to erupt between Iran and Azerbaijan and plots to depose the President of the United States, Paul Hood and the Op-Center team must stop the conspiracy.

Date Posted: September 7, 2016

Tom Clancy is, to me, to the right of Donald Trump. His ideology has been somewhat tempered by author Jeff Rovin in this #12 version of Tom Clancy’s Op Center: War of Eagles. In spite of Clancy, I am a fan of his books (I like big fat books) and of the Op-Center books. I like the action and suspense and the characterization is good. This book was badly hurt when Paul Hood is removed from Op-Center. He has been the central character throughout the series and to remove him is absolutely absurd. It might have been different if he retired, or quit on his own, but he was fired and a general took his place. This is Clancyesque, who believes that American Intelligence is in the trash bin. Throughout the book I hoped that Hood would regain his job, or that the tyrant general would get fired. Then there is the firing of main character, Bob Herbert. I don’t know what inspired this decimation of characters, other than to show how policymakers can never deal with the truth from good intelligence analysis.

The book begins with a bang (actually), and could be excellent. I’d love to know the motivation for the abrupt turn in the plot line.

Subjects

Notes

Created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

Date Posted: June 10, 2015

Tom Clancy’s Op Center began as a single book and morphed into a series of 14 books, as of June, 2015. The books are based on Clancy’s bellicose view toward the world and his perception that the United States is constantly under imminent threat. He might have said, “I told you so,” when 9/11 occurred.

The op center books ounter the “threat” by a super-secret agency designed to meld intelligence with its “geek squad”, their computers and analysis algorithms, as well as a small but immediately deployable strike force. In the first series of 12 books the op center was established, carried out its mission, and was ultimately done away with by what Clancy would describe as a “weak” president. The series was revitalized by a 13th book in 2014 and a 14th in 2015.

Although familiarly called “Op-Center”, the actual name of the largely autonomous agency is the “National Crisis Management Center”. The charter of the NCMC, or Op-Center, is unlike any other in the history of the United States. They handle both domestic and international crises. In the first series, Director Paul Hood reports to the president himself, and what had started as “an information clearinghouse with SWAT capabilities” now has the singular capacity to monitor, initiate, and manage operations worldwide. The organization had its own paramilitary response team, called the Striker team, named by an Op-Center member who was a soccer fan, composed of members of the U.S. military special operations community. The series also mentioned similar organizations from England, whose response team was called Bengal, and Russia, with a team called Hammer. It is headquartered in a nondescript, two-story building located near the Naval Reserve flight line at Andrews Air Force Base that used to be a ready room, a staging area for crack flight crews. In the event of a nuclear attack, it would have been their job to evacuate key officials from Washington, D.C.

According to the 2014 reboot franchise, the NCMC was eventually disbanded after the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence managed to convince the President of the United States to shut the organization down due to the effectiveness of the US Intelligence Community and Special Forces in the War on Terror (much to the disgust of Paul Hood and Mike Rogers). Years later however, terrorists blow up several NFL stadiums across the country and leave thousands dead or mutilated. It is determined in the resulting investigation that the inability of government agencies to prevent the attacks was due to a lack of information, as well as the inability to put the pieces together in time. In response, the President executes an emergency order that reboots Op-Center for the 21st Century. Retired Admiral Chase Williams is eventually named the new director and Op-Center’s new headquarters is located in the basement of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; as its response team, Op-Center utilizes soldiers from the Joint Special Operations Command.

Rogue soldiers seize the UN complex in New York and demand a hefty ransom for the release of their diplomatic hostages (including Hood’s daughter, Harleigh). Now it’s personal, and Hood has returned to Op-Center to save his daughter.

Op-Center seeks the help of their Russian counterpart in tracking the legendary assassin, The Harpooner. Meanwhile, Paul Hood is called in when it appears the President might be undergoing a mental breakdown.

Op-Center is under new management as Paul Hood is reassigned to a Pennsylvania Ave. appointment. At the same time, bombings in Charleston, Durban, and Taiwan, may signify the outing of a feud within the Chinese government.

When terrorists blow up NFL stadiums across the country, the President of the United States charters a new Op-Center for the 21st Century. Admiral Chase Williams is the new director, (Paul Hood at this time is diagnosed with ALS) and must also stop another plot involving a renegade Saudi prince from manipulating America into attacking Syria and launching a war against Iran.

A high-ranking North Korean general is murdered and a U.S. Navy ship is attacked and grounded during a training exercise. Op-Center discovers a secret alliance between China and North Korea, and must quickly rescue the crew in time as well as stop a terrorist cell being unleashed on the American homeland in order to prevent World War III.